‘Jumanji 3′ Set for Christmas 2019 With Dwayne Johnson Returning!!!

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle turned out to be a massive, surprise hit for Sony. While I’m sure the studio thought it would do well, no one expected it to go toe-to-toe with Star Wars: The Last Jedi and end up as the studio’s highest domestic grossing film of all-time (it barely beat out 2002’s Spider-Man for the title). So it’s no surprise that the studio is moving full steam ahead on a sequel.

Last night at CinemaCon, Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman confirmed that a sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is set for Christmas 2019. That will put it up against Star Wars yet again (this time it will be J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX) as well as the big-screen adaptation of the popular musical Wicked. Rothman also confirmed that Dwayne Johnson was set to return, although there’s no word yet if co-stars Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan will also be on board, although previous reports indicated that they would be back as well. We also don’t know if the sequel plans to bring back to the teenagers.

The script is currently being written by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, but no director is currently attached. Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) helmed Welcome to the Jungle, but we don’t know if Sony is angling to bring him back for another installment or if Kasdan is even interested.

Where would you like to see the sequel go? For me, it seems like the natural evolution is to blend the two movies, creating a fish-out-of-water comedy where the avatars have their “natural” personalities, but they have to be guided around our world by the teenage characters who are familiar with the avatars. Then other things start popping out of the game, so you kind of have a riff on the first Jumanji, but this time there are people who are more comfortable battling rhinos except they’re completely baffled by our modern world.